Fetal echocardiography.
In recent years, fetal echocardiography has greatly improved in that most major structural heart defects are detectable from 18 weeks on. Fetal M-mode mapping has also enabled us to detect and diagnose fetal arrhythmias as well as follow their treatment. More recently, pulsed Doppler and color-flow mapping have facilitated the dynamic study of blood flow in the cardiovascular system. Fetal echocardiography has now become a sophisticated modality, but is a crucial one to master because most fetuses that have congenital heart defects are not necessarily at any high risk. Evaluation of the fetal heart, therefore, is a recommended part of the routine fetal structural survey.
Benaćerraf
B R
BR
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Sanders
S P
SP
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis; D004452:Echocardiography; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis